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  11. Step 6 Background
  12. Step 7 Analyze Your Data
  13. Step 8 What does it mean?
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madb-tem4

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Table of Contents

Cookie Time!

cookie_pic.jpeg


Broad Question

Which baking sheet works best?

Specific Question

Which baking sheet transfers heat most efficiently?

Independent Variable: Type of Pan

Dependent Variable: Cookie Doneness

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: Baking Time, Cookie Dough Size, Oven Temperature

Hypothesis

I hypothesis that the non stick baking pan will transfer heat most efficiently.

Graph of Hypothesis

hypothesis_graph.paint.JPG


Experimental Design

I will be conducting an experiment that determines which baking sheet transfers heat most efficiently. Since I will need an oven to conduct this experiment, it will take place in my own kitchen. There will be two people involved in this experiment. One person to perfectly cook the cookies and I to record data and also help with the baking. My sister will be the other person helping me bake. 5 different baking sheets will be tested. Each pan will be tested 3 times. This means I will have to bake cookies 15 different times. All the data will be put straight on the computer since i will have my laptop handy. The entire experiment will be documented using a digital camera. The pictures will be uploaded and saved to the computer. I plan to print the pictures out once I am at school.

Materials List:

  1. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

  2. Non stick baking pan

  3. regular baking pan

  4. glass pan

  5. cooking spray

  6. timer

  7. digital camera

Procedure:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

  2. Take nonstick baking pan and put 10 spoonfuls of cookie dough on it.

  3. Bake cookies at set time (on back of cookie dough package)

  4. Once cookies are done, determine weather it is, uncooked, golden brown, crispy, or burnt

  5. Take a picture of the cookies, record data

  6. Repeat steps 1-6 with each pan.

Table Data

General Plan





Background Research

Background Research










The recipe that I will be using is an original Rachel Ray recipe that I found online. It had many positive reviews. There are only eight ingredients in this recipe so it is very simple. In my experiment I am going to be testing several different types of pans so I had to find out different things about cookies and pans. The word cookie means a small cake made from stiff sweet dough rolled and sliced or dropped by spoonfuls on a large, flat pan, and baked. Also I needed to learn much about heat because heat is a big part of baking. I learned that the transfer of heat is normally from a high temperature object to a lower temperature object. Heat transfer changes the internal energy of both systems involved according to the First Law of Thermodynamics. This was the information that I learned about baking cookies while doing my background research.


References

Background Research


Madison Bowley
1. Source: Ray, Rachel. "Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies." http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/on-hand-ingredients-recipes/jumbo-chocolate-chip-cookies. N.p., Apr. 2007. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.
  1. Information:
Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies- 6 servings Prep: 15 mins Bake: 20 mins…

Ingredients

  • 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled
  • 3/4cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/4cups flour
  • 1/2teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
2. Source: Douglas, Harper. "Word Origin & History." http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cookie+sheet. N.p., 2010. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.
2. Information:
Cookie- a small cake made from stiff, sweet dough rolled and sliced or dropped by spoonfuls on a large, flat pan (cookie sheet) and baked.

Word Origin & History
Cookie
1703, Amer.Eng., from Du. koekje "little cake," dim. of koek "cake," from M.Du. koke. Slang application to persons attested since 1920. Phrase that's the way the cookie crumbles "that's the way things happen" is from 1957.
3. Source: King, katie, ed. heat. Milwaukee, , WL: Gareth Stevens, 2003. Print.
3. Information:
The transfer of heat is normally from a high temperature object to a lower temperature object. Heat transfer changes the internal energy of both systems involved according to the First Law of Thermodynamics.

Heat Conduction Conduction is heat transfer by means of molecular agitation within a material without any motion of the material as a whole. If one end of a metal rod is at a higher temperature, then energy will be transferred down the rod toward the colder end because the higher speed particles will collide with the slower ones with a net transfer of energy to the slower ones. For heat transfer between two plane surfaces, such as heat loss through the wall of a house, the rate of conduction heat transfer is:


Results:

The original purpose of this experiment was to discover which type of baking sheet would transfer heat most efficiently. I tested five different pans. The results of the experiment were a pan without baking spray transfers heat most efficiently. The pan without spray made the cookies a perfect golden brown. No other baking sheet made the cookies golden brown. The others were either crunchy or undercooked.

Table Data

Type of Pan Under Cooked golden brown crunchy Over Cooked
Non Stick- Crunchy
Pan w/spray- Crunchy
Pan w/out spray- Golden Brown
Glass w/spray- Under Cooked
glass w/out spray- Under cooked

Graphs

Results_Graph.JPG

Photos
madys_science_fair_project_045.JPG madys_science_fair_project_044.JPG madys_science_fair_project_043.JPG madys_science_fair_project_042.JPG

Data Analysis


Conclusion

My hypothesis was that the non-stick baking pan would transfer heat most efficiently. My results do not support my hypothesis. There is a relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Some patterns and trends that my data shows are the glass pan defiantly did not transfer heat very well. In both tests the cookies on the glass pan came out under cooked. The non stick pan and the pan with spray came both came out crunchy, since they are very similar. I think the test I did went smoothly with minor problems. Some problems I encountered were that the cookie dough was a mess. Michaela had over melted the butter so the dough was too soupy and we had to redo it, other than that though things went smoothly. If I could improve my experiment, I would try to be more organized. I would have everything sorted out better, which would make the experiment go more smoothly. I would also make sure not to over melt the butter. Lastly I would try testing more pans and doing more trials. An interesting future study might involve focusing on the oven and how it cooks the cookies instead of focusing on the cookies.

Discussion